Singing a country and western song on stage at recent talent show 

Kristina Moffitt at talent show at Sedgefield Middle School. This is a wonderful "real" smile that I just had to share... 

Kristina having more fun blowing on prop... Cheap entertainment. LOL 

My friend Patty gave me a hat that says "Chief Propellerhead" and has a computer on top with a prop that spins. Kristina is having fun trying to blow on the prop here in this picture 

animal wildlife expo

I am sitting here at work watching all the people drive by rushing into the parking garage so they can attend the wildlife expo here in charleston today. here I sit and there they go. lol oh well some folks get to have all the fun I suppose. I wonder how much text the treo will allow me to type before it runs out.... so far so good. I hope the weather is as beautiful where you are because it is gorgeous here. time to make a round so I will sign off for now

happily connected

I am posting to my blog from my treo 600 pcs enabled cell phone. I wonder if this will work right

Out with the old and in with the new

A friend of mine introduced me to Incredimail last year. Last night while using it I ran across a stationary called Celtic Myst which is brown parchment paper and the default font is "Black Chancery". Well, I immediately fell in love with the font. I think that it looks VERY classy to say the least. LOL.... You may be asking yourself the question "how does one fall in LOVE with a font". Well, I dont have the answer to that but all I do know is that I LIKE it so very much. So, Verdana, it has been fun and we have had a long and fruitful relationship but you are out and your replacement is Black Chancery. My friend Patty also told me that when she created a MS Word document using this font that she was unable to use "apostrophes" while using this font in MS Word but here in blogger it seems to work. I also noticed that this font is not listed in the list of fonts but when I type it in under font choice manually it shows up.

I have not written anything in my blog since I passed the A+ exam.... Maybe I have been experiencing some brain fry and have not felt creative enough to babble in here. I told my friend Jorge at work yesterday about Blogs and he said " what in the world is a blog". LOL... I told him that a blog is a web log or sort of like an "online diary". Jorge sort of cocked his head to one side, raised his eyebrow and gave me a "what in the world are you talking about dude" look. He asked me why would someone want to do something like that for the whole world to read? I told him that not everyone has their blog wide open for the general public and that you can lock them down to where only certain folks have access to it. Well, anyway, I guess that was where we left it.

Speaking of blogs, I am still waiting for a certain "someone" to start their blog..... I am not mentioning names here but YOU know who you are dont you???? LOL.... Get to creating that blog and write in it atleast once per week. PLEASE..... Speaking of writing in your blog KATY dear, you have not written much lately either have you?

I guess there is not much more to report here from Duck Ditch USA. Life goes on as usual in that we are doing the daily routine of eating , sleeping, fighting with the kids, going to work and starting the routine over and over again each day. I have not had a day off since we came back from the Happy Days camp on the 15th of last month so that it getting kind of old. We owe we owe off to work we go is our song that we sing each day. We are slaves to debt I guess. As Suze Orman would say there are two types of debt, personal debt and institutional debt. Some debt is good and most debt is very bad. I am like most of us in that I have some of both. My only regret is that I wished I would have read books like hers 20 years ago so that I could have kept from making some pretty stupid financial decisions in the past. Well, you know the old saying and how true it is. Knowledge is power. When you gain knowledge you can move out of the darkness of ignorance into the light and begin to do something, anything to correct past mistakes and stop making the same old errors and having to live through the consequences of those errors. There are nine small books in the series that Suze Orman wrote about finances and I am on the first book that talks about debt. Most of it has to do with Credit card debt etc.. which does not really apply to me but it is GOOD information for those of you out there that do have lots of credit card debt that you are trying to manage.

I am working on my Network + curriculum which I am hoping to accomplish between now and the end of February. I read through four chapters yesterday and I am hoping to go through another four chapters today at work between 3 Pm and 11pm. My goal for 2005 is to have all three of my Comptia exams passed and atleast 3 or 4 Microsoft exams passed. That will give me the A+, Network +, Security + and MCSA. At that point I will have increased my marketability in the IT industry 10 fold. Recruiters and employers apparently love to see certifications taken and passed. It tells them that you know what you are doing. What it really means is that you know how to study and take tests. LOL.... It does not necessarily mean that you will know how to take that knowledge and use it successfully in a real world environment.

Have a great day and a good week....

A+ Certification Complete!!!

I am HAPPY to report that I passed BOTH exams. Whew, I am so glad that is finally over. Now, with that certification and 25 cents I might be able to get a cup of coffee. LOL. Actually, entry level service technicians in the IT field are EXPECTED to have this minimal certification. Anyway, onward and upward. Now I will work on my Network + and Microsoft Windows 2003 server tests. Hopefully I can sit for one of those exams in the next four weeks. The whole idea here of course is not only to increase my knowledgebase and marketablity but also to command a larger paycheck. Can I hear an AMEN ?? LOL

I took the hardware exam first and thought that I did very well on it. I was surprised to find that out of a 515 passing score I make a 560. On the OS exam where I needed to have a passing score of 515 I made a 737. I thought I did much better on the hardware exam and much worse on the OS exam. The important thing is that I did pass. Thank you JESUS!!!!

It has been a LONG time since I took that kind of a test so this will give me the self confidence that I need to KNOW that I can study for the coming up exams and pass them. It sort of takes the FEAR out of studying and passing the exams. KWIM? I guess some folks are just better at taking exams than others.

Have a GREAT weekend!!

A+ exam in one hour....

Ok folks the time has arrived for me to see if I can remember enough of this stuff to pass the REAL tests this morning. I have been cramming for this thing for the last 6 weeks. Yesterday I took several test exams for both the hardware and OS and passed all of them so hopefully that is a good indicator that I will do well today. Each test is 85 questions long and I think that they give you 90 minutes to take the exam. I am taking the hardware exam first and then the OS exam second. I am scheduled to take both exams at two different times this morning. I hope that when I get finished with the hardware exam that they will just let me continue straight into the OS exam without having to wait. Once I am done with this and have my A+ certification I will need to dive into the Network + materials and Microsoft Windows 2003 Server test. That should keep me busy for the next 6 weeks.

The weather here for the last couple of days has been cold and rainy. I guess you could say that this is a typical Charleston SC winter. Thus far we have dodged any ice or snow storms which is nice. People barely know how to drive around here in good weather much less inclimant weather.

Yesterday was pretty easy at work, had one computer to finish up in which I had to add a new modem and configure a Dial up Networking icon for the desktop so that the customer could dial up bellsouth and get on the Internet. I spent most of the day yesterday studying and studying and studying some more. I went to lunch with my favorite bride at Cracker Barrell and then I had an appointment to work on a HP Color Laserjet 4550. Boy was I in for a surprise. The address was in a neighborhood off of Ashley Phosphate rd and Dorchester road. The customer was a couple who are real estate agents that work out of their home. When I got there and was showed into the living room or work area the HUGE HP 4550 was under this tiny computer desk with NO room whatsoever to work. I already knew in advance that it would have to have a good cleaning since I had learned that the Magenta toner cartridge had been dumped all inside this printer. I guess they got ahold of a defectice toner cartridge somehow. When I opened the printer up I was greeted by solid blue toner all over the inside of the printer. The customers house was very beautiful and there was NO WAY I was going to attempt to clean this printer on their living room floor. I could just see the blue toner getting all over everything. When I mentioned this to the wife who had initiated the service call she started to holler and shriek at a loud tone of voice about how they had just spent 400.00 to have this thing fixed and how the last person who worked on it was a bumbling idiot and apparently did not know what he was doing and on and on she went. Then the husband and wife started to fight about the fact that they did not have a place for me to work on the printer and why in the world would I even expect them to have such a place in their home when all they had was nice furniture. Imagine my surprise as I stood there waiting for the high pitched argument and whining to stop so we could figure out how we were going to get the printer moved to a safe place as to save their carpet. We finally managed to scoot the printer on a piece of cardboard through the living room and the kitchen out the door to the garage where it was about 40 degrees. I have to tell you this. I love working on technology and solving problems all day long BUT when you run into customers like these that is when my job becomes a job. Whew.....

Such is the life of someone who serves the general public and provides hardware and software and networking support on a daily basis. :)

Cactus Car Wash online

I am waiting on my car to get cleaned after this NASTY weather weekend I just endured. Cactus Car Wash just happens to have two Broadband connected computers in the lobby. So, guess what, here I am whacking away at the keyboard once again. I am headed out to St Stephen from here which is about one hour from N. Charleston where I will deliver and install a PC that I picked up about 2 weeks ago. Once I am done out there I will probably be done for the day since it will take me an hour to get back home.

I was shocked, amazed and thankful that our long time website appeared again this morning. Whew..... I need to download that website and burn it to CD ROM immediately in case it decides to go away for another extended visit. LOL.... We will develop something unique for lightourworld.com but not sure what at this point. Probably have something to do with regards to Jessica Ann and our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. Our family and our relationship with Christ are the top two things that do "Light our world" which is the reason for the domain name to begin with.

The weather here is GORGEOUS. Did I tell you that earlier? There are no clouds in sight and it is about 45 degrees outside. A wonderful day for a drive out in the country. LOL...

I am doing very good with regards to my calorie intake today. I am up to 950 calories for the day. My total is 2756 so I am trying my best to severly limit how much junk I cram into my face. I need to get out and walk my 1.6 mile trail this evening when I get home. I will let you know if I keep my promise to myself to do it. Hey honey, you in the mood to walk the dogs tonight when I get home? LOL....



James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

Lightourworld domain is born

time flies when you are having fun aye? It has been 8 days since I have blogged a thing. Goodness gracious folks it is not like me to be this quiet. LOL... We have been living in a winter wonderland here in the deep south. our temps have been hovering near freezing for the last week. We are paying dearly for the tropical weather we had a couple of weeks ago. Luckily for us though we have dodged the "ice storm" bullet that our upstate neighbors were not able to dodge. The upstate of SC, NC and Georgia all got nailed with some pretty harsh winter weather.

We owe we owe off to work we go has been our song as of late. i am working 7 days per week as usual and Katy has been busy doing long term sub assignments which has really been a big boost to the budget. We have been waiting for the state of SC to send Katy her temporary teaching certificate to find out that her fingerprint cards were rejected by the FBI so that means we need to get her finger prints done all over again. We also found out that she needs to get an official transcript from the University of Texas. Katy thought that part of the 75.00 fee was to pay for the offical transcript but now we find out that it is not. You have to pay for that seperately. Katy did get a call from MUSC just this last week and they are interested in her for the Activities Coordinator position in the STAR program at MUSC. Katy is hopeful of landing this position since it would be full time with benefits working with children which is what she loves to do. Hopefully she will be interviewed again for a second interview some time this next week.

Lightourworld.com has been launched but for now it is still in the infancy stages. Our long time family website is offline for now thanks to the lack of DNS registration issues. Katy is going to be working on the process of uploading our files to the new server in the next week or two so please be patient while we rebuild. I will be FINALLY taking the dreaded A+ exam on next Friday at Trident Technical college. So, if you think about it on next Friday around 9 am say a prayer that I will have a clear mind and that pre test jitters dont cause me to have brain freeze. LOL... I have been studying for this exam now for several months so I am either ready to ace this thing or I am not. Once I pass this i will be working on my Windows 2003 server exam. My hope is to have my MCSA status by no later than the end of this year. i can do it, I CAN DO IT.... LOL... I feel like the little train that said " I think I CAN, I think I CAN...."

Well, enough drivel for now, time to hit the shower and make myself presentable for church this morning and then it is off to the county office building for my 8 hour tour as usual. Have a NICE day no matter what you find yourself doing today.

Jesus Connect.net Domain is down for now

Once again it has happened to us. Katy called me yesterday stating she went to our website to make a change and found that the DOMAIN Jesus Connect.net has expired. SIGH... This is not the first time this has happened. So, our family website which was part of that domain and has been for years is once again VANISHED. Katy and I think that it is time for us to register our own domain and then we can have our own website with our own domain name again. Most domain names give you website space, email and FTP access and it is getting cheaper by the year. So, stay tuned for our announcement in the very near future.

This week continues to be a good week with regards to our health. I am eating under 2000 calories per day and Katy and I both walked 1.6 miles on Monday and Wed. We are walking one day, resting the next. Four days on and three days off. I will be working in the County Office Building which means I will be making rounds in the parking garage which will count towards my exercise count. I can not wait until this Saturday. I get to work a double shift from 7 am until 11 pm. Wooooohoooooo sounds like fun filled excitement. hahahahahahah NOT....

We are having a heat wave today since it is up to 31 F. I think that I will go outside and get a tan today. LOL

Hammer and nail anyone?

Have you ever used a hammer and nail to fix a computer? LOL. Well, I came pretty close today. Actually I wound up going to the VA Hospital in downtown Charleston this afternoon to fix one of their many MED carts. There is a manual locking mechanism which is installed to lock the cart just in case the electrical/computerized system were to fail. Somehow the thumb lever and the metal plate it rides on vibrated loose and fell off. I wound up spending two hours this afternoon figuring out how to disassemble the cart , fix the problem and then reassemble it to make sure it works. I had to use the hammer and nail to drive out the plastic gromets that were holding the four corners of the top of the med cart to the rest of the cart. I was standing in the storage room beating on the nail wondering if a doctor or nurse would walk in and ask me what in the world I was making all the racket for. LOL. Luckily that never happened.

I spent 3 hours today upgrading Timberline software at one of my client sites. I had to upgrade the server first and then I had to reinstall the updates to all the workstations.

Thus far , as of 7 pm I am at 810 calories. That will give me approximately 750 calories for me to consume for dinner and that will keep me well under 2000 calories for the day. Yeah me!!! I am going to rest tonight and walk tomorrow before church. Katy looked at me and said, there is NO WAY I am walking again in this cold. LOL.... Poor dear. I do hope that she gives in to my incessant whining and goes with me anyway. It is starting to look like we are both going to have a whine session tomorrow night to see if one or both of us is going for a walk. LOL

Caring Bridge Website

This is our Caring Bridge Website that I put up yesterday evening. I am not finished with it yet so please come back often to see what we have changed. The url is

http://www.caringbridge.org/sc/jessicamoffitt

Please visit this website and share it with your friends and family. Pray about helping Happy Days and Special Times as they are in need for funding for 2005 for all of the special events that they do for children with cancer and events that the siblings and parents can attend throughout the year. You can donate online at http://www.happydaysnspecialtimes.org in memory of our Jessica. I know that I know that she would appreciate your support. Thanks!!

A new day to make the right decisions

Good morning folks! It is a nice crisp 22 F here in the deep south. LOL... I am so happy that I purchased a car cover for our new chariot so I dont have to worrry about scraping ice off the windshield. I am also glad that the heater does not take 30 minutes to finally kick in. Speaking of that I wonder if I should go out and crank the engine so that when I do get in it will be nice and toasty when I get inside.

I decided this weekend that FAT BOY is going to DO SOMETHING about the weight problem. Sigh.... I gained 9 pounds over the Christmas holidays and I can really tell a difference. I am also wondering if my not taking my blood pressure medicine which was a diuretic has caused me to put on some extra weight. That is a question that a doctor is going to have to answer I suppose.

Well, anyway, not only did I gain 9 lbs but I also have not done any regular exercise either. Having the new job working 8 to 5 sitting in front of a computer most of the time did not help that. What walking that I was doing in the parking garage has been diminised down to two days on the weekend. So with that in mind I am going to do my best to walk atleast 3 or 4 times per week. I got home last night after work and my right ankle was sore since I stood up most of the day. I almost used that as an excuse not to go but I managed to bundle up and go outside to walk. I also managed to talk Katy into walking with me. Boy oh boy girlfriend did NOT want to walk in the cold. Can you say cheese with that whine honey? LOL... Thank you Katy for coming with me so that you could motivate me to do what I need to do. We both know that we both really need to try and do this together so we can support one another when one or both of us want to get lazy and stay at home and be couch potatoes. LOL....

In the calorie department I ate around 2400 calories. I guess I sort of blew it in that area. I need to get that down to under 2000 calories today. The formula is simple. Less calories and more exercise. The key is aerobic exercise I might add. Exercise that gets your heart to pumping at a specific rate which is designed to burn those FAT calories. Just thinking about how much work is necessary to lose ONE POUND or 2000 calories is almost depressing.

Baby steps. Tiny little baby steps. I have to keep reminding myself that I did not get this way over night and that it is going to take determined dedication to attack this problem one moment at a time and one day at a time. Tomorrow is gone and now I have today to make the right decisions and do the right things. Personal planning means that I need to DO SOMETHING and be proactive and NOT just let life happen to me and wind up being REACTIVE and doing damage control.

Maybe my new motto needs to be "Embrace The Tiger". Maybe that will help me to understand that my weight problem is the tiger in my life and that I need to face this monster (tiger) head on and not let it overwhelm me to the point that I feel helpless and hopeless. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I need to also remember that. I am not alone and I have the power of God within me to dig down deep and do what I need to do. I just need to decide to tap into that power and put it to work every single day.

Today is God's gift to me and what I chose to do with this day will be my gift to God. Pray that I will make the right decisions today with regards to how much food I stick in my mouth and that I will continue to exercise atleast 30 min every day. Also remember to pray for the Tsunami victims in Asia and for our troops who are over seas fighting in a horrible war. Pray that our troops will come home safe and sound to their families. Pray for peace. Also pray for Happy Days and Special Times that they will continue to find the funds that they need through donations and other events through the year so that they can continue to bless children with cancer with all of their FREE activities to them and their families

Renissance Weekend Myrtle Beach South Carolina

Katy and I spent the weekend at Myrtle Beach at the Ocean Reef Hotel. When we arrived Friday evening around 6:30 pm the temperature was around 45 F. Before it was all over the temperature dipped down to around 34 F with a wind chill factor making it around 28 F. Now, I know for you snow birds up in Michigan or Iowa or wherever you might be building snow men this is a regular hot flash for you. However us beach bunnies are freezing our tails off with this weather.

Happy Days and Special Times sponsors the Renissance Weekend for parents who have lost children to cancer. I can not tell you how wonderful this organization really is. Not only do they minister to the needs of kids with cancer but they do not forget the siblings and parents AFTER the child is either recovered OR passes on. During the yearly weekend we come together as a support group and we comfort one another and we have the unfortunate opportunity of welcoming newcomers to our group.

This year we had three or four new couples that just recently lost children to one form of cancer or the other. As one person said we are all unwilling members of a horrible club. Friday evening we all gathered around and did introductions and got settled in to the hotel and ate Pizza around 9 pm. Saturday morning we had breakfast, two grief counseling break out sessions, lunch , free time between 1:30 pm and 4 pm and then we all gathered at Chuck Steak House for steak dinner compliments of Happy Days. After dinner we all piled in to our respective chariots and headed down to the Alabama Theater and enjoyed a Tribute to Patsy Cline radio show. I am not much of a Patsy Cline fan but I have to say that the entertainment and talent was absolutely amazing. After the show ended around 10:30 pm we all came back to the hotel and piled into one of the conference halls for more desert, coffee, soda pop and more informal conversation.

Sunday morning consisted of a breakfast, more informal conversation within the group of parents and then John Evans spoke to us. You can visit John Evans on the Web at http://www.johnevansspeaker.com/. John is a motivational speaker that just blesses our socks off every time we hear him speak. As a matter of fact I wish that we were able to spend more time with him than we do. John handed out a motivational brochure that was entitled Embrace The Tiger with a picture of John kneeling next to a huge Siberian Tiger. John Evans also told us all about a website called Caring Bridge at http://www.caringbridge.org. On this site you can register a web page and set up a memorial page for your loved one and let people know how they are doing etc. Check the site out for yourself. I plan on setting up a site there to let folks know about our Jessica and the impact that Camp Happy Days and Happy Days and Special Times had on Jessica and continues to bless our family today. My hope is that folks will be touched by the incredible genioristy and spirit of giving and volunteerism and will be moved to help support Happy Days and Special Times. Once all the events were over we all went outside on to the beach and proceeded to stand around like a bunch of frozen popsicles while we waited for everyone to show up for our balloon releasing ceremony. We take the white balloons and we put our hopes, fears, dreams and wishes and we then release those balloons up to God so that He can minister to those things within each of us. We also release them in honor of our children who have gone on before us. Our hope is that one day we will see Jessica again.

Back view of Pontiac 

2003 Pontiac Grand Prix SE 

January 12, 2005

It has been five days since I have written in my blog. My how time flies when you are having fun. Are we having fun yet?
LOL... Well, let me see, what is going on..... The reports are still coming in and the number of Tsunami victims keeps growing and growing and growing. I think they are up to 155,000 dead or missing. How depressing is that folks? The experts are predicting that the numbers could raise to as high as 300,000 IF the survivors of this natural disaster do not receive drinking water and food in the very near future. Not only is there a lack of food and water but there are also problems with the survivors having to deal with diseases that have set in since this disaster struck. Like I said, it is just too overwhelming to fathom. What can we do on the other side of the globe? We can do two things. We can donate money towards the relief effort and we can pray. I can only imagine that this event has folks thinking about their mortality especially with the death and destruction all around them. Just the other day someone at church had mentioned that they watched some sort of show on TV that stated that we are not immune to this sort of event happening off the East Coast of the U.S. Apparently there is some sort of fault line near us out in the ocean or an underwater volcano that erupts every several hundred years. If that event were to take place the wave that would hit the East Coast would be far worse than what hit Asia. Now, there is a thought that catches your breath huh?

It all boils down to this one thing. We are not in control. No matter how much money, technology and elbow grease we throw at mother nature when nature does what it does all we can do is sit back and wait for it to finish, whatever IT happens to be. No matter what I believe that God is in control. God knows all, we do not. All we can do is to be living our lives as if today is the last day of our lives and be ready to meet our maker. None of us are garunteed a tomorrow and just because we were not victimized by the Tsunami does not mean that the next time we get into our cars that we wont be in some sort of accident that might take our lives. Actually, if you think about it the chances of being in a car wreck far outweighs our chances of being hit by a huge tidal wave.

The year 2005 marks the year of out with the old and in with the new. Katy upgraded her car from a 1983 Chevy Station Wagon to a 1993 Ford Escort station wagon. The Ford Escort is 10 years newer and gets wonderful gas mileage compared to the gas guzzling tank that we have been driving around for the last 4 years. My 1994 Caddilac was eating us out of house and home with all of the maintenance repairs that were absolutely wrecking our budget. So, with much prayer and with help from a dear friend we were blessed with getting a 2003 Pontiac Grand Prix SE. I can not tell you how nice it is to have a car that has less than 50,000 miles and has an AC and Heater that actually works. Everything was falling apart on the Caddy and it had over 221000 miles on it so it was time for it to retire. I think that the last time I drove a car this new was back in 1981. That has been a LONG time folks. I will share pictures here via Hello in a moment.

As of Friday this week I will be scheduling my A+ exam. Hopefully I can get a slot early next week and get this test completed and passed. If I can pull this off it will be the first step towards getting some much needed computer certifications. Lets see, I have read two different A+ books and studied over 1500 different test questions. If I am not ready for this test then I dont think I ever will be. LOL... Once that is completed then I will be off to the races to study for the MCSE exams. There are 8 of those so if I can do one per month I have 8 months before I get my MCSE. Of course, one per month for taking a test is a really agressive schedule so I will be content if I can pass half of those exams between now and December of this year. If I can do that my income will go up and I can start doing more computer engineering work vs being a hardware technician. Speaking of being a hardware monkey I have been getting a crash course on fixing printers. OH MY GOSH. You thought your computer was persnikity. Good grief Grady. Printers are a major pain in the keister.

Our church sanctuary is finally being dismantled and the carpet and sheetrock and other fixtures are being ripped out and replaced. The schedule is to have the sanctuary completely renovated by the end of January. We will have all new pews, carpeting, sound equipment with the addition of a computer and digital projector. Say bye bye to transparencies and hello to 21st century technology. Wahoooooo. Of course with all of the changes with how we are going to use technology on Sunday morning brings me the added responsibility of evaluating worship software to determine what we will eventually pick to display text, song lyrics, bible scripture , video etc.

This weekend we will be taking our annual jaunt out to Myrtle Beach SC as Happy Days and Special Times sponsors another Renissance Weekend for parents who have lost children to cancer. For the last couple of weeks the weather has been very nice with temperatures in the middle 70's. Now that the Myrtle Beach weekend is coming up the weather is turning colder and raining. It happens like that every year. LOL...

Prayer request

PLease pray for my friend Kimberly who is going through a very difficult time right now. Her husband has some sort of cancer and they are experiencing some severe financial difficulties because he is not able to work. Kimberly's relatives are not offering her much support at this point which is really upsetting to her. Thanks in advance for the prayers for healing for her husband as well as financial needs that they have.


God bless